Seeing red? How Lake County hopes new visors keep traffic signals visible in snowstorms

The Lake County Division of Transportation wants to make drivers see red. And it will be a good thing when they do, officials say.

The county board this week approved a deal with the Illinois Department of Transportation to install snow-proof visors on all 175 county-owned traffic signals.

The move aims to address traffic hazards that can develop when blowing snow, under the right conditions, can be driven onto the signals, obscuring them from drivers' view.

That was evident in November 2018, when the perfect blend of windy conditions and wet snow caused issues across the region.

"(Drivers) could not see where the reds were and kept going through," said Jon Nelson, engineer of traffic for LCDOT.

The reason is that the energy efficient LEDs widely used for traffic lights emit much less heat than traditional incandescent bulbs, keeping snow from melting when it blows onto the signals.

The estimated cost of the visors is $927,182 - about $5,298 per signal - but that is expected to drop, Nelson said. About $616,275, or two-thirds of the project cost, will be covered by a federal highway safety improvement grant administered by IDOT.

Will it work?

Conditions that cause snow to collect on traffic signals are hard to predict and depend on a number of factors, IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said.

Those include the type of precipitation, wind direction, gusts and speed, temperature, humidity, moisture and the duration of the storm, she said.

IDOT has tested different types of visors that claim to reduce snow buildup, but results have been inconclusive.

Last year, IDOT and several county transportation agencies installed a device that fits over the LED module and within the existing visor at selected test locations. Results after a storm in late February were positive, Castaneda said.

IDOT District 1, which covers northeastern Illinois, continues to test and monitor the devices, along with those installed by Cook, DuPage, Kane and Lake counties, she said.

According to Nelson, a red light on an LED signal uses about 10 watts of power, compared with 135 watts for the old bulbs. Besides saving energy, the LEDs allow battery backups, which are used often, he said.

But the increased efficiency leads to unwanted ramifications.

"It's good that we're saving the energy, but the loss of heat makes all of our traffic lights in these situations incredibly dangerous," Lake County Board member Ann Maine said last week during an informal board work session.

Nelson said every county signal has a small shield/visor to help with glare, but the new snow-proof visors will extend about 12 inches from the surface.

Initially, the visors will be placed only on red lights, as those are the most important for drivers to see. Installation is expected in the fall.